For more than 20 years Teresa led the devout but undemanding life of a 16th-century Spanish nun. Then she became aware of a vocation to return to the simplicity and austerity of the early Carmelite Rule.

She began to experience a disturbing series of ecstasies, visions and interior voices counselling deeper spiritual perfection and practical ways of achieving the Reform.

In the teeth of agonizing self-doubts and the scepticism of friends and confessors, Teresa founded her first convent of ‘Barefoot’ or reformed nuns and at the same time began to analyse and record the mystical graces she recieved.

The Reform spread to the friars, and Teresa spent the rest of her life tirelessly travelling and founding convents. At the same time she continued to describe her personal experiences and to expound the successive stages of the mystic way. She also kept up an immense and varied correspondence which reveals her as one of the most warm-hearted, shrewd and gifted women of a remarkable century.

This book is available for 1.50 + 2.50 Postage (UK – for locations outside UK, follow the link to the book’s page (below) and use their calculator . You’ll need to sign up for an account with our store’s host, eBid (works basically the same as eBay, and you can use your PayPal account just the same).